UCLA Goes Hollywood for a Night
For an organization with a name that’s hard to spell and easy to mispronounce, the Aesculapians are doing quite well, thank you. Thursday, the UCLA Medical School support group netted more than $775,000 at its annual ball on the 20th Century Fox lot.
“Leave it to doctors to come up with a name laymen can’t pronounce,” joked emcee Jay Leno.
Named after the Greek god of medicine, the group raises unrestricted funds for the med school--money that’s used at the dean’s discretion. It might be used to keep the library open at night or pay for an emergency scholarship. “Things the state won’t--or can’t--pay for,” said the dean, Dr. Kenneth Shine.
The key to the Aesculapians’ success is that they have the backing of three of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters, who served as co-chairs: Creative Artists Agency Chairman Mike Ovitz, Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner and, surely the most powerful unemployed person in show business, former Fox Chairman Barry Diller.
Although it’s contradictory to call an event non-Hollywood when it has a guest list that includes Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, James Brooks, and Marvin and Barbara Davis, that’s the way it was. Most of the 1,250 guests enjoying the evening were either doctors or UCLA supporters.
Held on a dramatically decorated 28,000-square-foot sound stage, the post-dinner show kicked off with Leno. He took shots at President Bush (“He’s calling the riots in L.A. ‘Operation Desert Storm--the Home Game’ ”); politicians (“Pat Buchanan wants a wall between the U.S./Mexican border. OK--if it keeps him on the other side”); and more politicians (“Jerry Brown. It’s sad. All the people who want to vote for him are locked inside the Biosphere 2 experiment”).
Leno was followed by an ingenious 10-minute selection of film clips from movies with medical references--from Three Stooges comedies to “Young Frankenstein.” It was like the History of Medicine according to the Marx Brothers.
Robin Williams was on stage next for a high energy performance that included an imitation of George Bush, a discussion of proctology, an airing of his views on Lamaze and sharing the birth experience with his wife. (He said he doubted there was much sharing.)
After Williams was a three-man group who sang a clever a cappella medley written to commemorate Dr. Shine’s departure from UCLA to become president of the Institute of Medicine in Washington. (“Auld Lang Syne” became “Days of Old Dean Shine.”)
The evening crescendoed when Michael Bolton performed a powerful rendition of “Georgia” accompanied by Kenny G on saxophone. That ended what must be the country’s premier fund-raiser for a medical audience. “They deserve it,” said Ovitz, referring to UCLA. “They’re an incredible institution serving this community.”